Beijing urges Washington to remove all additional tariffs

In the interests of consumers and producers in both countries, China has urged the United States to remove all additional tariffs on Chinese goods as soon as possible, in order to return bilateral economic and trade ties to normal, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.

In response to the US decision to reinstate certain "Section 301" tariff exclusions for Chinese products, ministry spokeswoman Shu Jueting said at a regular briefing that the move will be conducive to normal trade.

She reiterated that the unilateral imposition of additional tariffs on China would not be good for China, the US or the rest of the world.

Against the backdrop of rising inflation and new challenges to global economic recovery, China hopes the US will consider the fundamental interests of consumers and producers in both nations and remove all additional tariffs imposed on China, she said.

Shu's remarks came after the Office of the United States Trade Representative said on Wednesday that it has reinstated 352 previously granted and expired product exclusions from US "Section 301" tariffs on Chinese imports-well short of the 549 exclusions it was previously considering.

The USTR said the reinstated product exclusions will apply as of Oct 12, 2021, and extend through Dec 31 this year. They cover a wide range of the initially estimated $370 billion worth of Chinese imports that the administration of former US president Donald Trump hit with punitive tariffs of 7.5 percent to 25 percent.

The list includes industrial components such as pumps, certain car parts, chemicals, motorcycles, backpacks, crab meat and other consumer goods.

Noting that the list includes industrial products as well as consumer goods, Chen Jia, a researcher at the International Monetary Institute of Renmin University of China, said the move will benefit the real economy of both sides and ensure people's well-being.

According to Chen, while the US government exempted fewer categories of Chinese goods from punitive tariffs than expected, it is a good start for returning bilateral economic and trade ties to normalcy

Chen believes the exemptions will directly benefit Chinese manufacturers engaged in those categories as well as US consumers.

Bai Ming, deputy director of international market research at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, noted that the administration of US President Joe Biden is under pressure from businesses and consumers, as US importers and consumers have absorbed more than 90 percent of additional costs resulting from the additional tariffs on Chinese products.

"The US decision to reinstate certain tariff exclusions came amid pressures from business and rising inflation," Bai said.

Bai warned of uncertainties ahead for enterprises and said the US needs to take concrete steps to return bilateral economic and trade ties to the right track. "The US should remove all the additional tariffs to bring relations back to normal," he said.

Chen Chuanglian, deputy director of the Southern China Institute of Finance at Jinan University in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, said the US move has proved that China is playing a key role in global supply chains that benefit US enterprises and consumers.

Citing the record-high inflation in the US and the US Federal Reserve's decision to raise key interest rates, Chen said the US economy is facing mounting pressures and the exemptions will help bring bilateral trade of certain items back to normal and hedge against the impact of the Fed rate increase.